Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
Dan Hanson ·
Oct 13, 2011 at 9:01am
Today my daughter came home from school, excited to tell me that her grade 9 social studies class had been forced to watch a show that told them we are raping the planet, poisoning ourselves, and oppressing the 3rd world.
I told her it couldn't have been as biased as she was making it out to be, but as proof she offered me a YouTube link to the program in question, called "The Story of Stuff":
This was presented as straight, factual material in her class. This video and others by the same organization are apparently being widely distributed through various school systems.
Watch it, and decide for yourself it it is appropriate material for public schools to present to children as fact without opposing views being offered.
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Sep '11
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
"The Story of Stuff" is such a target-rich environment that it's kind of hard to pick just one issue to pounce on. The tidbit at the end about Extraction and Manufacturing producing 70 trash cans full of toxic waste to make the 1 can of trash we haul to the curb strikes me as a good place to start--but there are oodles of others.
You might also take a different tack: take a look at the official dogma surrounding the Charlottetown Conference in 1864. How the delegates were all having such a good time that nobody bothered to keep any records of the conversation....
...without any mention of the fact that they were technically engaged in sedition against the Crown, and any records of the conversation could be used to hang them if the political winds in London were to change.
"The Story of Stuff" is a useful tool--because it's so totally over the top that it can easily be challenged. It can be a helpful tool for encouraging critical thinking. It will persuade some kids--but it can be used to liberate the minds of others.
Take advantage of it, Dad.
Dec '10
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
Glenn Beck was all over this for a while. You can find his take on the youtubes.
Sep '11
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
Diane,
It's a small world. I majored in American History at Penn. Everybody I knew who majored in International Relations at Penn became a spy.
(I used to say, "almost everybody I knew who majored in IR..." until I got the alumni magazine a few years ago, and saw a note that a fraternity brother of mine had retired. He was the one IR major who hadn't become a spy--except he retired as a senior official at DIA. In other words, a spy.)
So...?
Aug '10
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
John Murdoch: You don't have to worry - I've been watching the school system like a hawk since my daughter was in grade 1 - not just for bias, but for simple incompetence and incorrect teaching. I've had to correct teachers on a number of occasions - generally around incorrect teaching of science and mathematics.
When she was in grade 5, she brought home material that taught her that the beaver was an amphibian. Several discussions later, going from an unresponsive teacher to an unresponsive principal and finally to the school district itself, we got the material corrected.
She was excited to tell me about this video yesterday precisely because she knew it was crap. Her exact words were, "Dad, you won't BELIEVE the biased stuff they made us watch today." She's already a better critical thinker than most adults, and that includes being skeptical of what her Dad tells her until she checks it herself - an attitude I support.
Aug '10
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
Repeated for truth. I don' think there's a 20-second section of that video devoid of an error of some kind. I compiled a list of the bigger false facts for her teacher, and had to cut it off because the mail message was two pages long and I hadn't gotten through half of the video.
I loved the repeated phrase "Toxins in = Toxins out". It is flatly untrue, and portrays an ignorance of basic chemistry or how chemicals are used in industry. As I pointed out to my daughter's teacher, Chlorine is deadly to humans, and Sodium is a highly reactive metal that will explode if you put it in your mouth. Combine them, and you get table salt.
The whole 'Toxins' thing smacks of new-age mush. The video makes a big deal of 'neurotoxins' being in your pillow, which you put dangerously close to your head. What, are they going to migrate through your skull? My suggestion to the teacher: tell your students not to eat their pillows.
May '10
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
Dan,
I didn't mean to come on so strong but am frustrated that misinformation is so widely believed. (Can you tell?) I'm with you on the Earth Charter garbage, and wouldn't have pursued the program if they were still proponents of that document.
My son's a junior in IB and is working his tail off. Your daughter will do just fine, and will go to college with a well-developed work ethic, time management skills, proficiency in a second language and having already written a 4000 word research paper. That's why top college admissions offices send recruiters to high schools with IB programs. These students graduate from high school prepared to handle the toughest college courses.
Edited on Oct 13, 2011 at 11:32amMay '10
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
John Murdoch: Diane,
It's a small world. I majored in American History at Penn. Everybody I knew who majored in International Relations at Penn became a spy.
(I used to say, "almost everybody I knew who majored in IR..." until I got the alumni magazine a few years ago, and saw a note that a fraternity brother of mine had retired. He was the one IR major who hadn't become a spy--except he retired as a senior official at DIA. In other words, a spy.)
So...? · Oct 13 at 11:19am
I'd tell you but then I'd have to shoot you.
May '10
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
John Murdoch: Diane,
It's a small world. I majored in American History at Penn. Everybody I knew who majored in International Relations at Penn became a spy.
(I used to say, "almost everybody I knew who majored in IR..." until I got the alumni magazine a few years ago, and saw a note that a fraternity brother of mine had retired. He was the one IR major who hadn't become a spy--except he retired as a senior official at DIA. In other words, a spy.)
So...? · Oct 13 at 11:19am
Thanks for suggesting I'm a spy, btw, John. Really helps when I'm trying to convince people this isn't an international plot. ;-)
Edited on Oct 13, 2011 at 11:38amApr '11
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
Videos like this just prove how desperate leftist messaging has become. Appeals to emotion have replaced facts and what facts there are left are grossly distorted. Pleas to consume less and recycle to reduce waste have turned into diatribes about surrendering ourselves to the government so they can mandate it and squash the evils of capitalism with a heavy fist.
I feel sorry for any traumatized children, but I'm guessing they are in the minority as nine year-olds are pretty good at smelling BS, and this video reeks of it. It takes running without the ball to a new level.
As a parent, I would simply request equal time to show another video or presentation. Honestly, it wouldn't even take equal time. There are a few fisking videos on YouTube that would do the trick nicely. Beyond, just lead by example and try to point out the absurdities when you come across counter-examples in your daily interactions. "Don't eat that salt, it has toxic sodium AND toxic chlorine in it! - Oh wait," "Now remember, don't eat your pillow.", etc.
Mar '11
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
You can see a correlation between this kind of left wing propaganda being passed off as factual and the the know-nothings that now "occupy Wall Street". It is quite likely that the college aged today were being feed this kind of rubbish just a few short years ago. I would bet that many of their teachers were young people themselves who had grown up on a steady diet of leftist propaganda, so that it is not just that they are all hard bitten leftist they are the result of 40 plus years of leftist indoctrination. The funny thing is that the education system has been promoting, for some time now the importance of critical thinking but the teachers themselves do not really know how to employ it.
I was substitute teaching a few years ago and filled in for an 8th grade science teacher. My task that day was to take the class to another teacher's class where we all watched "The Story of Stuff" and another video about the island of floating plastic in the Pacific. While they watched the videos they were to answer questions on a worksheet to help them remember the "facts". Continued...
Mar '11
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
Continued from above
Their assignment for the rest of the class and homework was to write a one page paper linking the info from both videos. This passes as teaching the students to be critical thinkers. Unfortunately, the results were lead by the information presented to come to the same conclusion.
Aug '10
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
Man, what a boring video.
How many 9th-graders are actually capable of staying awake for more than five minutes of that 21-minute monstrosity?
Jan '11
Re: Tales of Student Indoctrination, Episode #283,293,191
At the risk of offending some here, let me point out that Departments/Colleges/Schools of Education are the least rigorous in any university. Yes, I know, there are many universities, so how is it possible to paint with such a broad brush? Because education curriculum is monolithic. Stephen and Abigail Thernstrum have studied the issue competently and thoroughly. Their conclusion: close all the schools of education and start over rather than continually fail to redeem a fatally flawed system. Add to that the many supporting essays on the same subject by Thomas Sowell.
Until that happens, continually citing egregious anecdotes just leads to hands thrown in the air, and finally acceptance. We're just about there.